Visuomotor tracking strategies in children: associations with neurodevelopmental symptoms.

Children with neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) often display motor problems that may impact their daily lives. Studying specific motor characteristics related to spatiotemporal control may inform us about the mechanisms underlying their challenges. Fifty-eight children with varying neurodevelopmental symptoms load (median age: 5.6 years, range: 2.7-12.5 years) performed an interactive tablet-based tracking task. By investigating digit touch errors relative to the target's movement direction, we found that a load of neurodevelopmental symptoms was associated with reduced performance in the tracking of abrupt alternating directions (zigzag) and overshooting the target. In contrast, reduced performance in children without neurodevelopmental symptoms was associated with lagging behind the target. Neurodevelopmental symptom load was also associated with reduced flexibility in correcting for lateral deviations in smooth tracking (spiral). Our findings suggest that neurodevelopmental symptoms are associated with difficulties in motor regulation related to inhibitory control and reduced flexibility, impacting motor control in NDDs.

A novel tablet-based motor coordination test performs on par with the Beery VMI subtest and offers superior temporal metrics: findings from children with pediatric acute-onset neuropsychiatric syndrome.

Neuropsychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorders are often associated with coordination problems. Pediatric Acute-onset Neuropsychiatric Syndrome (PANS) constitutes a specific example of acute and complex symptomatology that includes difficulties with motor control. The present proof-of-concept study aimed at testing a new, bespoke tablet-based motor coordination test named SpaceSwipe, providing fine-grained measures that could be used to follow-up on symptoms evolution in PANS. This test enables computationally precise and objective metrics of motor coordination, taking into account both directional and spatial features continuously. We used SpaceSwipe to assess motor coordination in a group of children with PANS (n = 12, assessed on in total of 40 occasions) and compared it against the motor coordination subtest from the Beery-Buktenica Developmental Test of Visual-Motor Integration (Beery VMI) 6th edition, traditionally used to follow-up symptomatology. Using a bivariate linear regression, we found that 33 s of the directional offset from tracking a moving target in SpaceSwipe could predict the Beery VMI motor coordination (VMI MC) raw scores (mean absolute error: 1.75 points). Positive correlations between the predicted scores and the VMI MC scores were found for initial testing (radj = 0.87) and for repeated testing (radj = 0.79). With its short administration time and its close prediction to Beery VMI scores, this proof-of-concept study demonstrates the potential for SpaceSwipe as a patient-friendly tool for precise, objective assessment of motor coordination in children with neurodevelopmental or neuropsychiatric disorders.

Performance Differences of a Touch-Based Serial Reaction Time Task in Healthy Older Participants and Older Participants With Cognitive Impairment on a Tablet: Experimental Study.

BACKGROUND: Digital neuropsychological tools for diagnosing neurodegenerative diseases in the older population are becoming more relevant and widely adopted because of their diagnostic capabilities. In this context, explicit memory is mainly examined. The assessment of implicit memory occurs to a lesser extent. A common measure for this assessment is the serial reaction time task (SRTT). OBJECTIVE: This study aims to develop and empirically test a digital tablet-based SRTT in older participants with cognitive impairment (CoI) and healthy control (HC) participants. On the basis of the parameters of response accuracy, reaction time, and learning curve, we measure implicit learning and compare the HC and CoI groups. METHODS: A total of 45 individuals (n=27, 60% HCs and n=18, 40% participants with CoI-diagnosed by an interdisciplinary team) completed a tablet-based SRTT. They were presented with 4 blocks of stimuli in sequence and a fifth block that consisted of stimuli appearing in random order. Statistical and machine learning modeling approaches were used to investigate how healthy individuals and individuals with CoI differed in their task performance and implicit learning. RESULTS: Linear mixed-effects models showed that individuals with CoI had significantly higher error rates (b=-3.64, SE 0.86; z=-4.25; P<.001); higher reaction times (F1,41=22.32; P<.001); and lower implicit learning, measured via the response increase between sequence blocks and the random block (ß=-0.34; SE 0.12; t=-2.81; P=.007). Furthermore, machine learning models based on these findings were able to reliably and accurately predict whether an individual was in the HC or CoI group, with an average prediction accuracy of 77.13% (95% CI 74.67%-81.33%). CONCLUSIONS: Our results showed that the HC and CoI groups differed substantially in their performance in the SRTT. This highlights the promising potential of implicit learning paradigms in the detection of CoI. The short testing paradigm based on these results is easy to use in clinical practice.

Differential Switch Costs in Typically Achieving Children and Children With Mathematical Difficulties.

Children with mathematical difficulties need to spend more time than typically achieving children on solving even simple equations. Since these tasks already require a larger share of their cognitive resources, additional demands imposed by the need to switch between tasks may lead to a greater decline of performance in children with mathematical difficulties. We explored differential task switch costs with respect to switching between addition versus subtraction with a tablet-based arithmetic verification task and additional standardized tests in elementary school children in Grades 1 to 4. Two independent studies were conducted. In Study 1, we assessed the validity of a newly constructed tablet-based arithmetic verification task in a controlled classroom-setting (n = 165). Then, effects of switching between different types of arithmetic operations on accuracy and response latency were analyzed through generalized linear mixed models in an online-based testing (Study 2; n = 3,409). Children with mathematical difficulties needed more time and worked less accurately overall. They also exhibited a stronger performance decline when working in a task-switching condition, when working on subtraction (vs. addition) items and in operations with two-digit (vs. one-digit) operations. These results underline the value of process data in the context of assessing mathematical difficulties.

The German version of the tablet-based UCSF Brain Health Assessment is sensitive to early symptoms of neurodegenerative disorders.

INTRODUCTION: Cognition often remains unassessed in primary care. To improve early diagnosis of neurocognitive disorder (NCD) in Switzerland, the tablet-based UCSF brain health assessment (BHA) and brain health survey (BHS) were validated. METHODS: The German BHA, BHS, and Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) were administered to 67 patients with mild/major NCD and 50 controls. BHA includes subtests of memory, executive, visuospatial, and language functioning, and informant-based BHS asks about behavior and motor functioning. RESULTS: The complete instrument (BHA + BHS) was most accurate at detecting mild NCD (AUC = 0.95) and NCD without amyloid pathology (AUC = 0.96), followed by the BHA. All measures were accurate (all AUCs > 0.95) at distinguishing major NCD and NCD with amyloid pathology (Alzheimer's disease [AD]) from controls. DISCUSSION: The German BHA and BHS are more sensitive to mild NCD and non-AD presentations than the MoCA and thus have a high potential to identify patients with NCD in primary care earlier than currently used screens.